Engineering Contests Foster Student Talent
(NewsUSA) - Imagine if you could take the satisfaction you get from helping others and solving problems and turn it into a career. Too good to be true? It's not - it's what mechanical engineers do, and young people have several opportunities to get involved in the field.
From stacking their ABC blocks as toddlers to building working model railroads and winning science fairs as elementary students, young people can continue to develop their engineering skills throughout childhood. And the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, commonly known as ASME, has a design competition program that challenges the technical and problem-solving skills of engineering students in college.
At the 2006 competition, students were challenged to design and build a fishing rod and reel that a quadriplegic can operate orally. In previous years, the competitions have focused on landmine detection, testing defective baseballs before packaging, and bottling and capping water.
Fourteen finalists competed at the latest international competition, from a field of 117 entries. A total of 466 students participated in the regional competitions.
ASME sponsors the Student Design Competition to promote technical ingenuity and inventiveness in future engineers and to encourage collaboration as preparation for successful careers.
By entering the contest, students learn about the basic principles of engineering, as well as teamwork and sportsmanship.
Engineering competitions aren't limited to college students. The FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Competition is for high school students who are considering careers in science and engineering.
In this contest, a group of students and a mentor receive a standard kit of parts to solve an engineering design problem within a six-week timeframe.
Each group must adhere to the same rules to solve the problem. More than 1,100 teams compete in 33 regional events, with 8,000 youngsters eventually coming together for the national competition.
For more information about the ASME Student Design Competition, visit www.asme.org. To learn more about the FIRST Robotics Competition, log on to www.usfirst.org.
